House once owned by Henry Austen for sale
A townhouse in Alton, Hampshire that once belonged to Jane Austen’s brother Henry is for sale.
An old safe concealed in the fabric of a £410,000 Georgian town house now for sale in the High Street of Alton, Hampshire tells a tale. The building, being sold by John D Wood, was bought by Jane Austen’s favourite brother, Henry Thomas Austen when he ventured into banking in the early 1800s. The Alton Bank printed its own pound notes, some of which are still held at Jane Austen’s memorial trust in Chawton. But Henry was declared bankrupt in 1815, and Jane lost 13 pounds 7 shillings, part of her earnings from Mansfield Park.
Crack open your checkbooks!
December 10th, 2005 at 6:47 am
So… what was in the safe then?!
December 10th, 2005 at 8:46 pm
I think they mean the safe is there from when the building was used as a bank. It’s not like Al Capone’s vault (though wouldn’t that be totally cool?!?)